The Tower of Hope's mission is to empower people living w/a disability or chronic illness to live more independently by providing them w/specially trained service dogs. Their primary focus is providing these amazing animals to combat wounded veterans at no charge.

The Tower of Hope was formed by Cathy Carilli who lost her husband to the attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Her and her husband were both animal lovers and Cathy found consolation from their pets in the following months of that terrible day which spawned the idea to give back something to the wounded service men and women who vowed to avenge the loss of life that ensued that day and defend the freedoms that make our country so great.

Why do wounded veterans need expertly trained service dogs?

There are over 60,000 American troops who have been wounded in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
The war in Afghanistan continues and 50,000 American Troops remain in Iraq.

Thousands of these young men & women , selflessly serving our country & protecting our freedom, have lost limbs, suffered traumatic brain injuries, & have received other horrible wounds that have changed their lives forever.

This is an incredible means of changing these heroes’ lives and returning them to independence-
Giving them a trained service dog….

After many years of war, fewer than 200 service dogs have been placed with seriously wounded combat veterans from these wars.

The Tower of Hope is meeting the needs of deserving recipients through their intensive effort to rapidly increase
the number of service dogs that can assist seriously wounded veterans.

The cost of these service dogs is in excess of $25,000 and takes two years to train.

There are more than 50,000 seriously wounded veterans out there right now; at least 4,000 alone
Are amputees….

The Tower of Hope is unique in providing these trained service dogs at no cost to the recipients.

Southern Flight UKC club will host this event w/the support of the North MS Amateur AKC Retrievr club. Sat May 28th (Memorial Day Weekend). The address for the event is 2123A Potts Camp Road, Waterford, MS. Will be a day for the whole family!!

Will be having a retriever event as well as demonstartions from service dog teams, search and rescue teams, police dog teams, etc! Will be activities for the kids, informal lunch, Dinner, Raffel, & a band.

No one knows better what these wonderful animals are capable of more so than us. A great many of these wounded veterans may not have ever owned a dog and have no idea of the healing power the companionship of a dog can have as well as the service side of giving them their independence back. Without our troops defending our liberties, we would never be able to enjoy the freedoms in the outdoors and the right to bear arms that they help protect! Looks like a perfect opportunity to give something back to our wounded military and goes hand in hand with what we do!

The event is listed on www.huntsecretary.com under special events. There is a place to enter if you are coming and running a dog, there is a seperate listing for making a donation only.